Broncos wrap pre-conference with split in Texas

NMMI Sports Press
RANGER, Texas — It was another “Jekyll and Hyde” day on the baseball diamond Sunday, as the Broncos eked out a 6-5 victory against Ranger College in the opening game of two seven-inning double headers, then fell 10-0 in the nightcap.
“We split on the road, which you can’t really complain about that, but we’ve got to find a way to make those other two games more competitive, and not allow them to get out of hand,” said NMMI coach Chris Cook.
The Institute never trailed in the opener against the 17-6 Rangers, but they had to battle late to get the victory.
NMMI opened the first inning of Game 1 with two two-out singles — by Alex Howard and Winston Welch — who came in to score on a triple by Justin Felix, making it 2-0.
Ranger came back in the bottom of the stanza off starter Carlos Ortiz, scoring on two singles and a double.
After both sides went down quietly in the second, the Broncos added a solo run in the top of the third on a bases-loaded walk to John Jensen.
NMMI made it 6-2 in the sixth when Inman doubled and scored on a Colby Brown single. McLean then singled, Mariscal was hit and Howard singled the first two home.
After an opening home run in the bottom of the sixth, Ortiz hit a batter and walked one, then, with one out, reliever Kyle Bosworth walked another to load the bases then gave up an RBI fielder’s choice and a double that made it 6-5.
The Broncos went down quietly in the top of the seventh but so did Ranger, as Howard struck out two and got the final out on a ground ball.
“Alex Howard came in and threw really well with a one-run lead and closed it down for us,” Cook said. “That was a team that’s beat a lot of people so far, and they found a way to score some runs in the sixth inning and made it really close. But we were able to hold on for that game.”
NMMI wasn’t as lucky in Game 2.
Even though they only had five hits, the Broncos stranded 10 runners — eight in the first three innings — unable to get the timely hits that would have scored some runs.
“We had multiple chances early in that game to get off to a good start, just couldn’t find the barrel when we needed it,” Cook said.
NMMI stranded three in the first on a single, walk, hit batter; three in the second on the same three situations; and two in the third on a hit batter and walk.
“We struck out more that we would have liked to,” Cook said. “We’ve just got to do better with runners in scoring position and the approach. I don’t know what happened, but guys just started pressing, I think. We had our chances and it didn’t happen.”
Ranger, meanwhile, scored five off starter Alex Garcia, getting two in the second and three in the fourth, then added five more off relievers Derek Troeger and James Santiago in the seventh.
Combining the two games, Howard was 4-for-8 with two runs, 2 RBIs; Felix 2-for-4, 2 RBIs; Brown 2-for-5 one run, 1 RBI; Welch 3-for-7, one run; Jensen 2-for-6; and McLean 2-for-9 with one run.
Weather permitting — rain is expected in West Texas late this week — the Broncos will open the WJCAC season Friday in Snyder, Texas, vs. Western Texas College.
Cook said the Broncos still have to work on a number is issues, but they’re getting closer to firing on all cylinders.
“We’ve got a lot of opportunity going into conference, it’s just a matter of taking advantage of the opportunities we get when we’ve got runners in scoring position; our pitchers need to execute and get the third out in innings; and we need to clean up the things that have kind of hurt us early this season. We take care of those things, and we’ll be able to compete with anybody in our league.”